Pressure vessels



May 17, 1966 J. MERCIER 3,251,330

PRESSURE VESSELS Original Filed Feb. 11, 1955 "Fig.2-

INVENTPR 1v Jferaen av D FPuRBAHK ATTORNEYS United States Patent No. 2,878,834, dated Mar. 24, 1959. Divided and this application Apr. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 272,760

1 Claim. (Cl. 138-30) This application is a division of co-pending application Serial No. 780,868, filed December 16, 1958, now Patent No. 3,088,492 which in turn is adivision of application Serial No. 487,610, filed February 11, 1955, now Patent No. 2,878,834.

This invention relates to the art of pressure vessels and more particularly to the valvesthereof.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide valve means for controlling the fluid ports of a pressure vessel, which valve means are dependable in operation and may readily be fabricated at relatively low cost, and are not likely to become deranged even with long use.

According to the invention, these objects are accomplished by the arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary detail view of a modification of the bladder supporting member.

The pressure accumulator shown in FIG. '1 is especially designed for use as a shock alleviator and will permit large volume flow into the unit and small volume flow out of the unit. The device comprises a container or pressure vessel 11' of strong, rigid material such as steel capable of withstanding high pressures, said container being substantially spherical at one end as at 12 and open at its other end as at 13'.

The end 12 of the container has an axial opening 14' defining a liquid port through which a fluid under pressure, such as oil, may flow into and out of the container, and a closure assembly 15' is associated therewith. The closure assembly comprises a tubular member or sleeve 16' of diameter greater than that of port 14' and aflixed with respect thereto as by welding at 18' to the exterior of the container.

The bore of tubular member 16 is internally threaded to receive the correspondingly threaded end of acoupling to which a hydraulic line may be connected.

Positioned in the container is a valve head 25' of diameter greater than that of opening 14' and having a plurality of small apertures 110 therethrough, said valve head 25 being designed to seat against the inner surface of the container substantially to cut off flow from said container.

Means are provided to guide the valve head 25 so that it will move axially with respect to the container. Such means comprises a guide member 27', illustratively a strip of rigid metal substantially U-shaped as shown and having an outwardly extending lateral flange 111 at the end of each of its guide legs 112.

Although the valve head 25' may be aflixed to the guide member 27 in any suitable manner, as illustratively shown, a rivet 113 extends through the valve head 25' and the cross piece 114 of the guide member securely to clamp these elements together.

The distance between the legs 112 is substantially equal to the diameter of opening 14 so that the valve head will be guided with substantially no transverse play 3,251,380 Patented May 17,1966

ice

and the flanges 111 extending outwardly past the periphery of opening 14 limit the inward movement of the valve head 25 and impart a slight damping action to such inward movement, as liquid is forced into the container.

Positioned in the container 11' is a deformable partition 41 illustratively a collapsible and expansible bladder which desirably is of resilient material such as rubber or synthetic plastic of like physical characteristics.

The bladder has a thickened rim 42 to which an annular supporting member 43 is aflixed, preferably by being bonded thereto or molded therein as illustratively shown. The supporting member 43 is of resilient sheet material such as metal or suitable plastic and has a lower portion 44 and upper portion 45 lying in substantially parallel planes and connected by a substantially horizontal portion 46' which defines an annular shoulder on each side. i

The lower portion 44 of the supporting'member 43' is molded into the thickened rim 42 of the bladder 41' in such manner that the inner surface of portion 44 has a layer 47 of resilient material thereon which extends slightly past the connecting portion 46' and the outer surface of portion 44 has a layer 48 of resilient material thereon which extends up to the undersurface of connecting portion 46 and said layer 47' is thinner at its lower extremity than the layer 48'. The lower edge of the lower portion 44' of supporting member 43' is desirably reversely bent as at 109 and if desired it could be serrated as shown in FIG. 1 at 51 to form a pluralityof fingers rounded at their free ends 52'. It is to be understood that such flexibility could be imparted in other ways such as by having slits 49 (FIG. 2) in the lower portion 44' extending upwardly from the lower edge 50 thereof.

The open end 13' of the container 11' also desirably -has an annular shoulder 54 on its inner periphery on which is seated the lateral flange 53' of the supporting member 43'. The container is closed by means of a substantially cup-shaped cap 115, the outer diameter of the side wall 116 of which is slightly less than the inner diameter of the upper portion 45' of supporting member 43 so that it will wedge snugly therein and the rim 117 of said cap is designed to be spaced from the connecting portion 46' of supporting member 43'.

The cap 115, the container 11 and the supporting member 43' are securely retained together as by welding at 118 to prevent leakage from the container and the bladder.

The assembled unit of FIG. 1 may be charged with gas under pressure through an axial port 122 in the cap 115. As shown, a mass of self-sealing material 121 such as rubber isaflixed to the. inner surface of the cap 115, so as to be aligned with port 122, as by means of a retaining plate 123, the latter having an opening 124 aligned with said port.

To prevent extrusion of said self-sealing material 121 from port 122, a ball 125 of rigid material such as steel is molded in said mass 121 and is positioned against a seat 126 formed by an enlargement of port 122. Thus, when a hollow needle (not shown) is inserted into port 122, it will deflect the ball 125 to the side as it passes through opening 124 into the bladder and gas under pressure may then be forced into the bladder.

When the needle is withdrawn, due to the pressure in the bladder 41' the ball 125 will again be forced against its seat 126 to prevent extrusion of the rubber mass 121.

When liquid under pressure is forced through the tubular member 16', the valve 25 will be moved inwardly away from the periphery of opening 14'. Asa result, a large volume of liquid may enter the container. Due to the flanges 111, which-act as baffles, the inward movement of the valve head will be slightly restrained.

As layer 47' is thinner at its lower end than layer 48', when the bladder is compressed it will readily bend over the reversely bent edge 109 without making a sharp fold which might cause rupture of such bladder with repeated use.

When a valve (not shown) controlling the closure member 15' is opened, due to the large passageway afforded by opening 14' for flow of fluid, the pressure in the tubular member 16 will be less than that in the container 11' with a result that the valve head 25 will seat almost immediately. Thereafter, the only flow from the container will be that through the relatively small openings 110 in valve head 25.

In addition, as the pressure on the gas in the bladder would be greater than that on the liquid in the container, the pressure on the inner surface of the upper portion 45 of supporting member 43' would force such portion 45' against the wall of the container for enhanced anchorage action which would eliminate some of the strain at the region at which the lower portion 44' of the retaining member is afiixed to the bladder.

As many changes could be made in the above constructions, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter said self-sealing rubber. to provide for sealing of the port at said seat to prevent extrusion of said mass of self-sealing rubber through said first port.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,974,378 9/1934 Nicoll 137-223 X 1,997,955 4/1935 Weaver. 2,063,355 12/1936 Wheway. 2,321,340 6/ 1943 Waterbury. 2,345,124 3/1944 Huber 138-30 2,349,321 5/1944 White 138-30 2,349,322 5/1944 White 13830 2,387,455 10/1945 McDermott 137223 X 2,390,319 12/ 1945 Overbeke 13830 2,390,320 12/1945 Overbeke 13830 2,710,623 6/1955 Kolos 137223 2,721,580 10/1955 Greer 138-30 2,886,064 5/ 1959 Mercier 13830 FOREIGN PATENTS 823,498 10/1937 France.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

LEWIS I. LENNY, EDWARD V. BENHAM,

Examiners. 

